Further collaboration on digital economy beneficial

China and Arab countries are expected to further tap their great collaboration potential in the digital economy in a bid to shore up global economic growth, said participants in the Fourth China-Arab Trade and Investment Summit held in Xiamen, Fujian province, on Wednesday.

Pan Zhongming, deputy secretary-general of China Daily, told the forum that China and the Arab region have great potential in the integrated development of the digital economy, driven by cooperation on digital infrastructure and technologies.

"China is the world's second-largest economy, and the two sides could further their collaboration in areas China has advantages in, such as 5G, big data and cloud computing," he said.

He added the two sides could boost cooperation in areas such as digital talent cultivation and digital government, while strengthening ties among the business, academic and media communities.

Li Ning, deputy director of the technical committee of the China International Electronic Commerce Center, affiliated to the Ministry of Commerce, said the trade values of e-commerce and cross-border e-commerce in China exceed 42.3 trillion yuan ($6.06 trillion) and 1.92 trillion yuan annually, respectively.

Taking as examples her bank's digital services, Su Jia, chief representative of banking group Emirates NBD's China office, said digitalization has provided many new development opportunities for banks, and Emirates NBD hopes to intensify communications with Chinese enterprises and financial institutions to identify more cooperation opportunities.

"China and Arab countries are expected to explore more growth opportunities and further strengthen investment in the digital economy, to facilitate trade and investment collaboration," she said.

Zhou Fang, deputy director of the department of Arabic Languages and Literature School of Asian and African Studies at Shanghai International Studies University, said technological and economic cooperation between China and Arab nations would benefit both.